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Yeah, she's great. She loves me too.

That's why she threw all kinds of rocks and flames and ice and pretty much everything at me.

How did she master so many different complex Arts anyway?

Hey, little Perro. Are you sure you've never studied Originium Arts?

Ooh?

Heyyy, I told you not to move——Lava, quit screwing around!

I'm just asking...

LA——VA——!

All right, all right. My bad. Whatever.

Mmm?

Ah, sorry, Miss Perro, just a little longer.

And now here, and here.

Whew. And that should be it.

Now, Miss Perro, we're pretty much done. Rinse your mouth with this glass of water, and be sure to spit it out. Don't swallow.

Mmm.

(Gulp.)

Little Lava.

Huh?

Something's bothering you.

None of your business.

You were the first one in the squad to give her something nice to eat.

What's that got to do with anything?

After starving for that long, she shouldn't be consuming much sugar, from a nutritional standpoint. But she really needs to supplement pretty much everything at this point.

That's why...

Wait....

You snuck off and bought a bunch of candy.

Only later realizing you'd spent all your money.

That's enough...

Or when we were bringing Miss Perro back, everyone was worried she'd run off.

Only you were brave enough to try to communicate with her, building the trust we needed to take off her shackles.

Ugh...

And once we learned she liked honey biscuits, it was you, among the five of us, who worked the hardest to make the best ones.

Seriously, stop!

Your big sister is very proud of you.

Come on, don't talk about this stuff in front of her!

I- I just did what I had to do.

But it's so sweet. No need to hide it. Hehe.

Oh yeah!

What?

So, um, the, like, oral exam, that's the last part, right?

Yes.

And then, um, what happens to her?

Well...

That's not up to us.

The operators responsible for that are still talking over her case. Orchid said she'd have someone tell us in the afternoon.

Anyway, after a busy morning and all those examinations, it's time to find a place for Miss Perro to——

Hibiscus, Lava! Are you still not done checking out Miss Perro? If we don't leave now, we'll miss Dobermann's training! I'm going on ahead!

Huh?

Hibiscus?

Oh, what?

I thought you said got us out of Dobermann's class!

Huh? Uh, well....

I, er, I might have forgot...

Why didn't you say so earlier?

All I could think about at the time was helping Miss Perro with her checkup...

We're dead.

Let's go pick out a pair of coffins.

What are we gonna do?!

Okay, how about we take little Perro out now and give her to the first person who comes along? I just hope we can find them again after training.

That plan is a little...

Let's see you come up with one!

I'm not running laps around the bridge again.

And I bet you don't want to memorize anatomy textbooks while doing jumping jacks either.

Who would?!

Okay, fine. We'll do it your way.

I'll get her weapons. You deal with her.

B- but what about her mouthwash——

She already swallowed it!

Hurry!

Rhodes Island Landship

Outside Medical Examination Room 6

(There's someone!)

Blacksmith!

Can I help you?

Can you take care of this girl for a bit? We'll come get her right after training.

What? Girl?

These honey biscuits are her favorite. If she gets cranky, just give Miss Perro one of these.

Huh?

And don't let her have her weapons just yet.

Thanks!

C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!

Wait!

I'm sorry, Miss Perro. We'll be right back!

Aahhh! Only three minutes! She's gonna kill us!

Wah...

So, what's your deal?

Just take the biscuits. Eat them whenever.

You want me to carry your weapons?

(shakes head)

Good.

Come on. My workshop is this way.

Rhodes Island Landship

Vulcan's Workshop

Come on in. Have a seat.

If the forge gets too hot, you can go behind the partition.

Thanks (quietly).

Don't mention it.

Are you... a blacksmith?

I'm Rhodes Island's blacksmith. Codename Vulcan.

Vul... can...